Monumental Reissue of 'Ten,' Pearl Jam's 1991 Debut Album, Rockets to #1 on Billboard Top Pop Catalog Chart

With "Brother," a previously unreleased track from the album's recording sessions, reaching #1 on the nation's Modern Rock radio charts, Legacy Recordings/Epic Records' avidly-anticipated reissue of "Ten," Pearl Jam's 1991 game-changing debut album, has rocketed to #1 on the Billboard Top Pop Catalog albums chart, with first week's domestic sales topping out at more than 60K pieces. Pearl Jam's "Ten" has also hit #1 this week on the Top Hard Music Albums chart and the Top Internet Albums chart.

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Thanks to first week's sales on the "Ten" reissue, the album has just been certified 13x platinum (up from 12x) by the RIAA. (The original "Ten" was certified RIAA gold in February 1992 and received its first platinum certification on May 5, 1992). Early international chart figures show the album hitting Top 40 or better in Portugal (#2), Canada, the Netherlands (#9), the UK (#29) and Italy (#29).

In mid-March, Pearl Jam made American radio history when "Brother," a previously unreleased track recorded more than 18 years ago and now available for the first time as a bonus track on the "Ten" reissue, rocketed into the #1 slot on the BDS/R&R Modern Rock Chart four weeks after entering the chart. With the #1 success of "Brother," Pearl Jam joined the Beatles ("Free As A Bird") and Elvis Presley ("A Little Less Conversation") as one of the rare bands or artists to ever hit #1 with a track recorded decades prior.

One of the year's most eagerly-awaited catalog releases, the new Legacy/Epic edition of "Ten" arrives in the midst of a groundbreaking multi-tiered campaign celebrating a historic masterpiece of rock.

Cold Case

As the newly remastered version of "Ten" hits the stores, the music of Pearl Jam has been slated to be featured exclusively during the two-part sixth season finale of the hit CBS television series "Cold Case," to be broadcast on Sunday, May 3 and Sunday, May 10 (check your local listings). A total of 16 Pearl Jam tracks will be woven throughout the two consecutive "Cold Case" finale episodes, marking the first time in the show's history that the music of a single artist/group will be showcased in more than one episode. A number of the songs featured on the "Cold Case" finale episodes are being drawn specifically from "Ten."

VH1 Classic

On Saturday, March 21, VH1 Classic premiered "Pearl Jam Ten Revisited," a half-hour look back at the seminal album that brought the sound of the Pacific Northwest underground to the American mainstream. The program showcases videos for "Even Flow," "Alive," "Porch" (from the band's Unplugged performance), and a never-before-seen version of "Jeremy" as well as archival footage and interviews from the band. If you missed the first round of airings, VH1 Classic will re-broadcast "Pearl Jam Ten Revisited" on April 7 (please check your local listings).

In addition, MTV, VH1 and VH1 Classic celebrated Pearl Jam throughout March 2009 airing blocks of Pearl Jam music videos, feature videos and editorial content on MTV.com, MTV2.com and VH1.com, as well as VH1 Classic. VH1.com and VH1Classic.com streamed the full album the week of release.

Rock Band

On December 15, 2008, Harmonix, the world's premier music video game development company, and MTV Games, a part of Viacom's MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA)(NYSE: VIA.B), confirmed that "Ten" would be offered for download in the Rock Band Music Store day-and-date with the re-issue of the album in stores on March 24, 2009.

In addition to the track "Alive" which is already available on the Rock Band 2 game disc, the Pearl Jam Ten download pack includes an additional 11 songs from the album: "Once," "Even Flow," "Why Go," "Black," "Jeremy," "Oceans," "Porch," "Garden," "Deep," "Release," and "Master/Slave."

Fan response has been fantastic. On the album's launch date, five of the Top 10 songs on Xbox LIVE were from Pearl Jam's re-mastered "Ten" album for Rock Band. Moreover, the Pearl Jam album for Rock Band remained in the Top 3 most popular selling offers on Xbox LIVE throughout its launch week.

With Pearl Jam becoming an Xbox Artist of the Month, the group's drummer Matt Cameron drew more than 18 million online viewers to the Xbox site when he played Rock Band 2 on Game With Fame with Xbox LIVE® Gold members on March 27. The Pearl Jam Game With Fame session took place inside the band's secret Seattle headquarters where Rock Band 2 was set-up on a 50" LCD TV inside the conference room of the building. The session was attended by gamers from around the world including the United States, Italy and Canada. Matt received hundreds of voice messages, text messages, game invites, and Xbox Live Party invites throughout the session.

The Legacy Editions

On Tuesday, March 24, Legacy released four special edition packages of "Ten," each of them featuring two versions of the album: the remastered version of the original album PLUS an accompanying remixed version done by the band's long-time producer, Brendan O'Brien (Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC, Audioslave).

The new editions include:

Legacy Edition (a 2-disc set in a mini-LP style slipcase featuring six bonus tracks: "Brother," "Just a Girl," "State of Love and Trust," "Breath and a Scream," "2,000 Mile Blues" and "Evil Little Goat");

Deluxe Edition (a 2-disc set plus the long-awaited first-ever release of Pearl Jam's mythic 1992 MTV Unplugged concert including never-before-seen bonus performance of "Oceans" with a 5.1 Surround Sound audio remix);

Vinyl Collection (two 12" LPs of the original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl including the new Brendan O'Brien remix);

Super Deluxe Edition (a 2-disc set plus DVD, 4 LPs including 1992's "Live at Magnuson Park" mixed by Brendan O'Brien, a cassette replica of the legendary "Momma-Son" demos of "Alive," "Once" and "Footsteps" and an Eddie Vedder-style composition notebook filled with replica personal notes, images and mementos from the collections of Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament, a vellum envelope with replicated era specific ephemera from Pearl Jam's early work and a two-sided print commemorating the Drop in the Park concert).

Press Response

The newly remastered edition of "Ten" has been drawing critical raves from all over the world:

"... [Ten] one of the great rock albums, period, of the last 20 years" - People magazine

"...the freshened-up album sounds to us today even more like it did back in 1991: classic." - LA Times

"The guitars snap and bite, Vedder's vocals are rawer and more textured, and Krusen's crisp, syncopated parts stand out" - Rolling Stone (US)

"'Ten' is a classic of the grunge era, its super-sized anthems and introspective mood pieces powerfully voiced by Eddie Vedder, a Jim Morrison for the plaid shirt brigade." - Mojo

"There is no shortage of choice for the avid collector.... It sounds great, actually from the inflammatory guitar intro to the momentous 'Once' to the final handsome drift of 'Release' it's a resplendent thing." - Uncut

"Pearl Jam has solidified its place as an indomitable cultural force." - Seattle Sound

"It's a relic and a shrine commemorating a bygone time when music was something you caressed." - Blender

"It's the extra features, spread over four different lavish editions, that truly impress..." - Q

"...fans will be particularly impressed with the difference in singer Eddie Vedder's voice on the 'new' version of the album." - NME

About "Ten"

Pearl Jam first released "Ten" on August 27, 1991. The album reached #2 on the Billboard 200 chart, sold over 12 million copies and became one of the cultural touchstones of the 1990s. Songs such as "Alive," "Black," "Even Flow" and "Jeremy" became staples of rock radio, and still make frequent appearances on the band's ever-changing concert setlists. The album was produced by Rick Parasher. Pearl Jam's 1991 lineup was Jeff Ament (bass), Stone Gossard (guitar), Dave Krusen (drums), Mike McCready (guitar) and Eddie Vedder (vocals/guitar).

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SOURCE: Legacy Recordings

CONTACT: Tom Cording, VP of Media Relations of Sony Music - Legacy,
+1-212-833-4448, tom.cording@sonymusic.com